[EDIT: The following lists changes made to the MRF Web site on 9/11/2007, deleting several of the additions of 9/10. Shortly after writing this, the MRF web site reverted back to a version from a week ago, with all the new material on filarial worms removed The full 9/10 text of these pages can be found here: http://morgellonswatch.com/about-2/mrf-filaria/ ]

It seems like someone at the MRF was a little over-eager to share their new theory with the world. Yesterday the MRF web site was suddenly changed from cautious suggestion that Morgellons is related to Lyme disease, to wide ranging speculation of animal worms and rare bacterial infections. These new theories are rather out of keeping with the prior tone of the MRF, and this make me wonder if a new hand is at the helm.

But then today, many of these statements were removed as quickly as they were added. Did cooler head prevail? Is there some internal debate at the MRF? Why are the thought processes of an organization being reflected on their web pages in this manner? Can the media continue to give the MRF any credence in light of these unorthodox claims?

The changes to the MRF are happening so fast that you probably never noticed them. Here are some of the more interesting changes between 9/10/2007 and 9/11/2007:

On the “Case Definition”, deletions in red:

This phenomenon is distinctly similar to the mass movement of microfilaria produced by intravascular adult Filaria typically between 1 and 4 AM.
…
5. Musculoskeletal effect is manifest in several ways. Pain distribution is broad, and can include joint(s), muscles, tendons and connective tissue. Both vascular and “pressure” headaches, and vertebral pain are extremely common, the latter usually with premature signs of degeneration (e.g., age 20) of both discs and vertebrae. All are characteristics of disseminated Actinomyces species
…
4. Acute changes in skin texture and pigment. The skin is variously thickened and thinned, with irregular texture and hyperpigmentation pattern. Hyper-growth phenomena are common (nevi, skin tags, microangioma, lipomas, callus formation and Morphea).A common characteristic of infection with Onchocerca cervicalis (A filarial species).

Curiously, NO serious search for parasites exists in the published medical literature

also removed, regarding the CDC:

but without a plan to explore and define the true illness they are intending to address. Although it is highly unlikely the CDC will have moved beyond the initial RFP process when peer-reviewed papers reveal the nature, etiology and solution of this illness, we are pleased they are willing to explore it. There will always be a large amount of verification and clarification work to be done as well as medication optimization.

Then the FAQ:

The actual unnamed disease represented by the Morgellons label is vastly different from DOP. A recent systematic study of similar patients has unequivocally verified infection in most with more than one species of zoonotic Filaria and all with unexpected overgrowth of a common commensal bacterium, Actinomycosis israelii. Both are treatable. The second large illness component found in these patients is indeed an episodic delusional state and a verifiable high prevalence of bipolar disease. Review of available NLM data corroborates only that the presence of delusion has been assumed the genesis of imagined infestation with parasites without ever having considered or tested forparasites. Use of even a Mattel microscope would have revealed the Actinomycosis spread, and a simple CBC and CBC will show the elevated monocytosis, abnormal red cell indices, frequently elevated calcium and low potassium.Available, but more specific tests readily reveal elevated inflammatory markers, elevated cytokines confronting chronic infection, and a chronic immune deficiency state resulting in activation of most herpes viruses, many zoonoses, and of course parasites of a still unknown number and species. Physical effects are to skin, brain, peripheral nerves, cardiac conduction, autonomic nervous system function, and hormonal effect. Debilitating subjective symptoms include local or general chronic pain, chronic malaise, and unusual but nonetheless well-documented dermal inter-plane movement of Onchocerca volvulus.
…
The typical skin lesions vary but fall into at least two distinct types. One consists of near-circular (about one cm) bluish colored scars that persist for decades but begin as one mm raised lesions followed by weeping ulcers. The second are eczematous-like. All occur most frequently on distal limbs or the back or face. The Filaria species commonly identified clearly create the second type lesion. The first, when lesions are in clusters, may be Actinomycosis or when not clustered, Filaria. Actinomycosis lesions may itch, but Filaria dermatoses itch with incredible ferocity.
…
Some physicians are attempting to treat patients with this illness, although they do not understand its cause. The disease we are addressing exists incorrectly labeled in medical texts as Delusions of Parasitosis. Because of this, cookbook clinicians will necessarily assume you are psychotic or delusional and look no further. In truth, prescription of psychopharmacological agents will help many patients with emotional discomfort…a real part of the illness. However, these drugs DO NOT address the actual parasite infestation readily treated with anti-helmenthics. Psychiatric drugs, again, do not address other components of the disease, but all may eventually respond to drugs that target the Chlamydophila species. THE LATTER REMAINS TO BE PROVEN.
…
As adequate funding becomes available, we are required by law to regularly post the progress and findings on the Foundation website so as each of us contributes, we can see the result.

These almost sound like the theories of George Schwartz, or perhaps Neelam Uppal. But my best bet is still William Harvey, although I think it’s odd that there is no mention of borrelia burgdorferi (Lyme). Harvey has previous given credence to a wide range of opportunistic parasitic infections based on borrelia burgdorferi infection reducing immunity.

Having looked at the deletions, lets look at something that is still there:

Is it contagious?

Science must answer that question to be certain. However, most data obtained to date strongly suggest this possibility. Its’ mechanism does not appear simple or straightforward. Suggestive data include its appearance in many family members, the finding of parasites, activation of infectious herpes viruses, and low-level identification of antibodies to various zoonotic bacterial antibodies. Many infectious agents can, of course, be transferred by intermediate vectors such as flies. But lack of these expected vectors in many regions of prevalence suggest silent inter-human transfer. The most recent strong hypothesis suggests that an inter-human infectious agent, easily spread by droplet transmission is initially responsible for creating a chronic immune deficiency state. Only such a state might account for the extreme number and types of activated agents that have become measurable and chronic. Its movement is likely silent because of the time for second-agent expression. If highly similar other chronic illnesses turn out to be generated by this initiating agent, the numbers infected are already enormous, so attempts at avoidance near useless now.

That’s rather a ramble, but I think that’s Harvey saying that it’s airborne transmission of borrelia burgdorferi , which causes a chronic immune deficiency state, which allows all these exotic parasites (the “second agents”) to infect you. He also suggests that Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and a lot of other illness are also caused by this, and hundreds of millions of people are infected. This tallies with his paper: ‘Lyme disease’: ancient engine of an unrecognized borreliosis pandemic? , published by Medical Hypothesis, not peer reviewed.

The Morgellon’s phenomenon is real. It is also clearly devastating, life-shortening, and infectious.

Yes, although there is no Morgellons Disease, or even a real medical condition by that name, there is a “real” phenomenon taking place. The phenomenon is the “belief” that Morgellons is a real disease or medical condition, and it’s not a new disease that is devastating in these people’s lives, but it’s the “belief” in that disease that is causing the ruin. Harvey stated that the Morgellons phenomenon is life-shortening. There’s no evidence that Morgellons is a disease, but it’s true that the “phenomenon” can be life shortening. How is this phenomenon life shortening? Who’s life has been shortened? The only lives proven to have been terminated prematurely are those that have ended because of suicide.

From the MRF’s FAQ’s page:

Experience and information from registrants leads us to believe the skin phenomena of Morgellons is not specifically dangerous, although possibly frightening and uncomfortable.

If the above statement is true, why does Harvey say that the Morgellons phenomenon is “devastating, life-shortening, and infectious”. In my opinion, the belief that Morgellons is a disease, and the belief that it is “devastating, life-shortening, and infectious” has contributed to the fear and depression that brought these suicides about. Morgellons is not a disease, but the false ideas that are being spread about “Morgellons” can be deadly!

There is no any Morgellons! I don’t believe the Morgellons is a new disease.
I had been studying this shit for two years and have now some interesting data.
Also i have a lot of statistic data as types of beginnings, various pathogenetic aspects of symptoms, efficiency and inefficiency of various antibiotics, a lot of stat. clinical data(blood analysis,immune factors, indexes of homeostasis and so on).

The main idea for today is what the cause of the disease is Gram-positive rod that belongs to order “Actinomycetales”.
Actinomycetales mainly consist of:

No, there are no any disease or “case definition” what could be called Morgellons, because Morgellons is fiction per se, associated with lack of qualitative diagnostics and competent med. specialists in most cases.

> (or, is there a list of symptoms that cannot be explained by other things).

Yes, for today this is just the list of symptoms like CFS or something like that.

Another matter is that this list of symptoms is quite homogeneous and this list of symptoms could truly be the representation of some real disease with the abs. real name.

————————
About evidences of commonality:

There are a lot of evidences of commonality.
Most of amongst those who claim to have it, say that disease began from mucous(oral cavity, gynaecology, respiratory or gastrointestinal tract).
A lot of people have the same blood indexes and other clinical signs.
Most of people have an equally response on physical activity, oxygenation, various antibiotics, antihistaminic and vascular drugs,.
And many other.
Majority of cases displaying that this is endogenous infection, but in spite of everything a small number of contagious cases occurs.
…….And of course this is confusing for today.

Oh… and one more thing… You see Morgellons or CFS or VSD is not a static process. This is very dynamic process with…well i really don’t know how to say…. Like a huge system of equations with “n” unknown quantity and a lot of parameters, where n+1t determinant is time.

So the disease must be considered as dynamic process. I think only at the end phase it could considered as the static process. By the way the main cause of misdiagnosis is slow dynamics of some diseases(and faraway end static phase).

I was using mathematical language, since it’s a bit more international. The point being that the “case definition” is poorly defined, and encompasses a large number of current conditions.

Like a Venn diagram – normally it’s the intersection of various symptoms that defines a condition, but in the case of Morgellons, it’s the union – which gives you a huge potential population, and is not really a disease.

There is something about Onchocerca volvulus that the powers that be are desperate for us not to find out about. I don’t know that it is involved in Morgellons but other filarial parasites that were also imported into the New World with slavery, such as Mansonella perstans, might be. They warrant careful investigation.

The following is a message sent to an American doctor submitting testimony to a DoVA subcommittee investigating Gulf War syndrome. The links leave no doubt that the involvement of onchocerciasis has been concealed.

****************************************************************

Would you please consider raising the issue of the absence of
screening for onchocerciasis with the DoVA? I have managed to get a
diagnosis and treatment in London, UK, but my American colleagues’
reasonable requests for diagnostic investigations are being ignored.

In 1980, onchocerciasis was reported by the ophthalmologist, probably
an American, from the hospital on the Khamis Mushayt airbase where
Stealth bombers were stationed during the 1991 Gulf War.
(scroll down to letter #7 at the following link)http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/eletters/329/7472/940-b#81939

Most residents of regions endemic for filarial infections have been
exposed, at least to some small extent.

Michael A Forgione, is Chief of Infectious Diseases at the hospital
on the Keesler Air Force Base at Biloxi in Mississippi.http://www.keesler.af.mil/

He co-authored a paper describing onchocerciasis as an infection
affecting “multiple organ systems” which is much the same as
describing it as a “multisymptom illness”.http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic1667.htm

The Air Force Logistics Management Agency (AFMLA) is a USAF
management think tank based at Maxwell AFB in Alabama. They report
directly to the head of Air Force logistics in the Pentagon.http://www.aflma.hq.af.mil/

According to AFMLA, military health risk assessors identified
onchocerciasis as an endemic health risk prior to the deployment of
troops to Arabia in 1990. This prediction led, in part, to the
acknowledged overuse of pesticides during the conflict.http://www.aflma.hq.af.mil/lgj/vol22_no2.pdf
(scroll down to the bottom of page 19 of the pdf to find)
“Personnel were also exposed to the effects of the desert
environment. Health hazards associated with the desert environment
vary. Hazards which particularly worried military health officials
were onchocerciasis (“river blindness”), bilharzias
(schistosomiasis), malaria and strangely enough, rabies. River
blindness was common in this theater and is caused when an individual
is bitten by the black fly—an insect smaller than a common housefly
that injects its larva into the bloodstream . . . . . . . .”

It therefore follows that the US military predicted that
onchocerciasis, presenting as multisymptom illness, would become
symptomatic in large numbers of deployed personnel at any time
following the required 18+ months incubation period. This is exactly
what happened.

Consequently, it is surprising that CDC commissioned Fukuda and co-
workers to investigate a “mystery illness” that some claimed was
afflicting Gulf War veterans, although it was already known that the
likely cause was onchocerciasis. Nevertheless, Fukuda and co-workers
failed to investigate a single veteran for onchocerciasis, that they
described as a “multisymptom illness” in the US Air Force veterans
they investigated.http://jama.highwire.org/cgi/content/abstract/280/11/981
Fukuda K, Nisenbaum R, Stewart G, Thompson WW, Robin L, Washko RM, et
al. Chronic multisymptom illness affecting Air Force veterans of the
Gulf War. Journal of the American Medical Association 1998;280:981–8.

That the involvement of onchocerciasis in GWS has been ignored, or
even concealed, is not in question. The question is why? I submit
that it is reasonable for Americans to demand that both the USAF and
CDC account for themselves.

Jelly Babies, I don’t know if this matters, but a few years(3 or 4)back my husband and I went as chaperones on a school trip with the JrROTC and we stayed on the premises at a pretty shabby facility at Maxwell AFB. We toured every public aspect of the base. I am having MAJOR problems with my eyes and I am BLIND in one from a childhood accident. I was sent to a specialist because my optomotrist was VERY concerned about the stuff growing in my eyes. The specialist she sent me to, she wanted me there that day, but it was the following day before I could go, said it was a simple case of Penguicula. I have always thought if Penguicula is so common, then why did my local opt. send me to a specialist? He also said it WOULD NOT cause any vision problems, that it was just cosmetic. I am having serious VISION problems. We also spent the day at another AFB in Alabama on that trip, I will have to find out the name of it. Also, my brother was in the Air Force and stationed at Keesler, in Biloxi. I also used to date,a long time ago, a man that was in the Reserve, that went to Keesler once a year, but mainly Camp Shelby in Hattiesburg, MS. Also, my brother went to Biloxi and worked for close to a year after Katrina hit, he had sores on him when he came home and he stayed with my family for several months. I don’t put alot into that because he is a drug user, but he has been incarcerated for over a year and still has the sores. I started having lesions in August of 2005, they started on my back, the vision problems started about a year ago. One more thing, I was in Florida in Feb. after Katrina hit, then again in April. I have relatives that visit from Biloxi, and from Mobile. If you have any info that could enlighten me, or my doctor, please, please send it to me @ v.mattie2@gmail.com. I would be very greatful! I have been in contact with several military personnel that were in the Gulf War. I have been talking to and taking samples to a parasitologist at a nearby university. He said that there was stuff, like leishmaniasis, coming back with our soldiers, that particular infection fits my symptoms, exactly, but I can’t be tested for it because I have not been out of the country. I read somewhere, I’m sure I saved it, that a dermatologist in North Texas had at least 9 confirmed cases of Leishmanisis from people that have NEVER left this country!!!! You are so right!!! Tell me how to help and I will!!!! The parasitologist also thinks that I had horsehair worms in many of my sores. He was flabergasted, and said it wasn’t supposed to be, but he was positive it was. He also found other things, but he always said it was nothing definitive. I took him a BLACK FLY that I got out of my bathroom, and HE HAD NEVER SEEN ONE LIKE IT!!!! He had been communicating with me on a nearly daily basis, and all of a sudden he backed way off!! My friend, not knowing that I didn’t want her to tell him, told my md who the Parasitologist was and what university that he worked for. I am nearly positive that my doc contacted him and ask him not to make my DELUSIONAL problem any worse. I know that he was helping me on his own time, and may not have gotten permission from the administration to be analyzing my samples. But I will tell you this, he said I DEFINITLY had something going on, and that it was MULTIPLE, and he had not seen alot of the things that I brought in and they were the most intriguing samples he had ever seen, then BOOM, no more contact.!!!